Remote support for my mom

[Caezar]

I am thinking of buying an iMac for my mom. She is afraid she won't be able to adapt to Mac OS after so many years using Windows XP.

I told her it would okay because I would be able to control her computer from afar: she lives in Europe and I live in Asia. There is no one else she can count on to fix her comp, since she lives deep in the corn fields.

I read on these forums that Leopard will improve on Remote Desktop. But I'd like to buy her the iMac earlier rather than wait until October. Is it feasible/easy to control her iMac when both machines are running on Tiger?

Also, would I be able to install bootcamp / XP remotely?

Caezar

 

[swiftaw]

If you turn on VNC access on her machine (Sys Prefs->Services->Apple Remote Desktop->Access Privelges) you can use something like Chicken of the VNC (free download) to remote connect to her machine.

You'll need the appropriate IP address, and a little fiddling may be required if she is behind a router.

 

[Caezar]

Thanks a million!

What annoys me now is that if I buy her the new iMac, her computer will be better than mine...

 

[Caezar]

I have a few questions to get me started:

- How can my mom find her IP address?
- Can I start to use Chicken of the VNC to control her peecee from my iMac? I would like to get some practice before she gets her own Mac.

Caezar

 

[aaronw1986]

You could use Hamachi to deal with the IP issue (HamachiX for mac). Then you have an easy way to connect to her computer.

 

[odinsride]

I have a few questions to get me started:

- How can my mom find her IP address?
- Can I start to use Chicken of the VNC to control her peecee from my iMac? I would like to get some practice before she gets her own Mac.

Caezar

1. You can use www.whatismyip.com to get your external IP
2. Yes, Chicken of the VNC will let you control her PC, provided she has a VNC server installed and the appropriate ports forwarded on her router

 

[Diatribe]

Wasn't Leopard gonna include remote desktop sharing via iChat? It was on the Leopard pages and in the 2006 WWDC keynote but now I can't find it. Anyone know anything?

 

[Caezar]

Has anyone tried DevonTechnologies' Desktop Transporter application? It is supposed to provide a friendly interface for VNC and support for AZERTY (i.e. French) keyboards.

http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/desktoptransporter/index.html